Pancake type flexible drive socket wrench



Dec. 24, 1957 S.-L. MALONE ETAL 2,817,255

PANCAKE TYPE FLEXIBLE DRIVE SOCKET WRENCH Filed July 27, 1956 Ev, mm w MM 5 VEB N mEE R LM m aw M W% A 5 B. 0 H m 2 4 0 United States Patent PANCAKE TYPE FLEXIBLE DRIVE SOCKET WRENCH Samuel Lee Malone and Osborne B. Curry, Youngstown, Ohio Application July 27, 1956, Serial No. 600,465

2 Claims. (CI. 81-57) This invention relates to a wrench and more particularly to a flexible drive socket wrench by means of which a socket wrench fitting may be rotated in a relatively inaccessible location.

The principal object of the invention is the provision of a flexible drive socket wrench comprising a device in which a driving member of a socket wrench set may be positioned and a remotely positioned member in which a driven portion of a socket wrench set may be positioned, the interconnecting portions of the flexible drive socket wrench being relatively thin and fiat so that the device may be positioned in relatively inaccessible locations.

A further object of the invention is the provision of a flexible drive socket wrench comprising a thin flat elongated body having a pair of socket defining members rotatably positioned therein, channels interconnecting said socket defining members and a plurality of rollers disposed in said channels and engaged with said socket defining members for transmitting motion from one to the other.

A still further object of the invention is the provision of a flexible drive socket wrench incorporating a pair of spaced rotatable socket defining members and motion conveying means interconnecting said members.

The flexible drive socket wrench disclosed herein comprises an improvement in the art relating to socket wrench constructions in that a flat thin elongated body member is disclosed which may be utilized with a socket wrench set to provide for driving a socket wrench portion at a substantially oflset location with respect to the driving member and in an otherwise inaccessible location.

The device is simply formed and may be of any desired length with the rotatable socket defining portions thereof of any desired configuration.

With the foregoing and other objects in view which will appear as the description proceeds, the invention resides in the combination and arrangement of parts and in the details of construction hereinafter described and claimed, it being the intention to cover all changes and modifications of the example of the invention herein chosen for purposes of the disclosure, which do not constitute departures from the spirit and scope of the invention.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawing, wherein:

Figure l is a perspective view of the flexible drive socket wrench.

Figure 2 is a vertical section taken on line 2-2 of Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a vertical section taken on line 3-3 of Figure 1.

Figure 4 is a vertical section taken on line 4-4 of Figure 1.

By referring to the drawing and Figure 1 in particular it will be seen that the flexible drive socket wrench comprises a thin flat elongated rigid body member having a secondary body member secured thereto by a plurality of fasteners 12-12. The body members 10 and 11 each have a pair of half-circular openings 13-13 and 14-14,

respectively, formed therein in longitudinally spaced relation. The openings 13-13 in the body member 10 are flanged as at 15-15, as best seen in Figure 3 of the drawing, so that a pair of circular apertured disc-like members 16-16 may be positioned therein in registry with the flanges 15-15 and held in rotatable position by the secondary body member 11-11, as also best illustrated in Figure 3 of the drawing.

It will be observed that the disc-like members 16-16 have peripheral flanges 17-17 which are narrower than the members 16-16 and spaced inwardly with respect to the sides of the members 16-16 and that the peripheral flanges 17-17 are scalloped as at 18-18, as best seen in Figure 2 of the drawing.

A pair of channels 19 and 20, cross sectionally square in configuration, are formed in the body member 10 in spaced parallel relation with their respective ends communicating with the openings 13-13 formed therein and a plurality of rollers 21-21 are positioned in side-by-side relation in the channels 19 and 20 and in the peripheral areas of the openings 13-13 around and about the portions of the disc-like members 16-16 so that a continuous row of the rollers 21-21 extends through the channels 19 and 20 and around and about approximately twothirds of each of the disc-like members 16 where each of the rollers 21-21 is engaged in one of the scallops 18 thereon.

It will be observed that the channels 19 and 20, being formed in the thin flat body member 10, confine the rollers 21 so that it is possible for them to move only in a longitudinal direction as defined by the channels 19 and 20 and in a circular direction when they enter the openings 13-13 and engage the peripheral scallops 18 on the flanges 17 of the disc-like members 16-16.

The disc-like members 16-16 are apertured, as aforesaid, the apertures defining suitable configurations for the reception of driving and driven portions of a socket wrench set (not shown). The apertures may, therefore, be either hexagonal or square, as indicated by the numerals 22 and 23, or any other desired configuration.

It Will thus be seen that the flexible drive socket wrench disclosed herein makes it possible for a driven member, for example, a squared shank of a socket wrench set, to be positioned in the squared aperture 23 of the device and engaged in a member to be rotated, while an hexagonal driving member of the socket wrench set may be positioned in the aperture 22 and the wrench operated through the device.

Alternately, either one of the apertures 22 and 23 may be positioned over a bolt, nut or stud to be rotated and a socket wrench applied to the other aperture of the device so that rotating motion imparted thereto will be conveyed by the device to the desired point of operation.

It will thus be seen that the flexible drive socket wrench disclosed herein meets the several objects of the invention.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim is:

l. A flexible drive socket wrench comprising an elongated flat body member having a pair of openings formed therein and a pair of channels formed therein extending in spaced relation to one another between said openings, a pair of apertured disc-like members disposed one in each of said openings, each of said apertured disc-like members having a scalloped peripheral flange positioned inwardly from the sides of said disc-like member, and a plurality of rollers positioned in said channels in side-by-side relation and around and about portions of said disc-like members so that rotary motion imparted to one of the disc-like members will move said rollers in side-to-side relation longitudinally of said channels to impart similar motion to the other of said rotatable disc-like members, means for retaining said disc-like members and said rollers in said body member.

2; The offset socket wrench set forth in claim 1 and wherein the means for retaining said rollers and rotatable disc-like members comprises a secondary thin flat body member secured to said body member adjacent the channels formed therein, said secondary thin flat body memher having openings formed'therein for registry with said rotatable disc-like members said openings being of larger diameter than said disc-like members and of smaller diameter than said scalloped peripheral flanges thereon.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,263,435 Klingbiel Apr. 23, 1918 4 Lybyer Apr. 5, 1949 Maddox Nov. 28, 1950 Bengston May 8, 1951 Danuskie Mar. 16, 1954 Tackette May 18, 1954 FOREIGN PATENTS Australia Nov. 20, 1951 

